I'm not sure when it was that I met Phil Foster
but it was through the internet. The earliest
correspondence I have is an invoice dated 9/2/99
which accompanied a batch of streamers I purchased
from him. Since then I have also corresponded
with Phil on a regular basis save a few months
when he went "off line."

The flies were wonderful and were to "kick start"
my interest in the so called "Rangeley style" of
streamers. I had seen some in books and a few in
magazines but really hadn't seen any tied by someone
from the middle of the area that spawned these
beautiful flies.

What follows are some of Phil's own words as written
in a book called Grouse Dogs and Salmon Rods which
he wrote about his life as a bird hunting and salmon
fishing guide as well as from our correspondence.

Phil was born on Feb. 14, 1927 to Herbert and Leota
Foster of Waterville, Maine. "...Some Valentine huh?
Mother said she'd didn't have her heart in it!"

His dad was an avid outdoorsman who introduced
young Phil to fishing at about the age of eight.
"He'd (dad) take me up to Barker Brook to dunk
worms just north of Farmington where we lived.
...When I was ten, he introduced me to the fly
rod and from then on, I was to fish no other way
except in later years when I did do a bit of ice
fishing...My brother, Bob, who was five years older
than I, was well into fly fishing and had also
started tying flies. Flies back in the late 1930's
were selling for about 15 cents for small snelled
wet flies and casting streamers were going for about
25 to 30 cents each. To put things in perspective,
a loaf of bread was selling for 12 cents and gasoline
was five gallons for a dollar! So flies were expensive."

"Before my brother, and I, got into fly tying, my
dad used to get his flies from an old gent by the
name of Melvin Huff. Mel was the zoo keeper at the
old Stanwood Park Zoo in Farmington. Of course the
zoo had an array of exotic birds and animals so Mel
always had a good supply of feathers on hand. He was
also an excellent fly tyer and a man of infinite
patience. In retrospect I can recall many times
when he should have sent me packing as I must
have been a real pain in the butt."

"By the time I was 11, I was selling flies in
the lobby of the old Exchange Hotel in Farmington.
I'd made a display board of thin plywood with a
small mirror in the center. I don't know what
purpose the mirror served."

"Later on, I came to tie for such prestigious
houses as Abercrombie and Fitch, William Mills
and Sons, Orvis, L.L. Bean and other lesser
known tackle houses. I supplied 2300 dozen flies
for L.L. Bean one summer. I had a string of 21
tyers tying on contract for me till Uncle's IRS
boys put me out of business. I was 100% right,
and legal but didn't have the funds to fight the
bastards...A friend here in Maine is doing exactly
what I did back in the early 60's and he's legal
as hell...Oh well. Time heals all
wounds they say...and wounds all heels too..."

I did time with the Navy in 1944-1946 and a short
stint in the Air Force in 1953. While in the Navy
I served as a Torpedoman's mate 3rd class aboard
a destroyer tender in Japan and China. I was also
the ship's bugler. While overseas I organized and
played trumpet in a 14 piece dance band aboard our
ship. We did several "gigs" in Shanghai at the Red
Cross etc. Have been involved in music of some sort
most of my life. Sang with a barbershop chorus for
25 years and also held down the baritone part in an
award winning quartet."

Upland Gunning

Phil and his dad hunted birds together as soon
as Phil was able to carry a 20 gauge shotgun.
During these early hunts, young Phil learned
the ins and outs of hunting waterfowl and upland
gamebirds (mostly Woodcock & Grouse) from his
dad and the "love of the land" was reinforced.

On October 10, 1974, Phil acquired a Brittany
Spaniel named "Britty." From that day on, the
two were constant companions both in the field
and at home. In his book, he tells of their many
good and a couple of the not so good hunts they
were on together.

A good portion of Phil's career as a professional
guide for upland hunting was with Britty at his
side. Slightly over 1,200 birds were taken with
Britty by the time of her retirement at age 13.
Phil has had other dogs since then but as he says,
"..none better." Phil's book has about two
chapters about Britty and his bird hunting that
will make even the most hardened reader a bit
misty eyed.

Trout Fishing

Phil's dad had an 18 foot sponson canoe-style boat
that was very stable and it allowed Phil, his brother
and dad to stand up to fish. The North and South
branches of the Dead River were early bodies of
water that the three fished regularly. When the
South Branch was removed from fly fishing only,
they lobbied the Fish and Game Department for
several years without success to have it returned
to fly fishing only. The once productive river is
a shadow of what it had been during the fly fishing
only days. Phil also fished other waters in the
Rangeley/Stratton/Eustis area of Franklin County.

One of Phil's favorite spots was a foot bridge that
crossed the outlet of Doge Pond where it empties
into Rangeley Lake. Phil recalls, "...Each spring,
even before the ice left the lake, there would be
a big Smelt run into the brook. I've seen the bridge
lined with fly fishermen angling for some of the big
Trout that followed the Smelt...I have also witnessed
numerous Trout over four pounds taken from the bridge
and have caught many in the two to three pound range
myself." The bridge was taken out when the old hotel
that sat out on the point was torn down "...and
another good fishing spot became a memory."

Atlantic Salmon Fishing

Phil's book has quite a long section titled "Let's
Talk Atlantic Salmon Fishing" in which he relates
many good and some not so good stories about his
time on the water with and without clients. I'd
have included all of them here for their
interesting reading but the focus of this writing
is Phil, not his clients.

Fishing the St. John for Atlantic Salmon

"From the mid fifties to the late sixties, I was
located in Aroostook County...At that time the
St. John River was renowned for its Atlantic Salmon
fishing. I spent much of my free time during the
summer on the St. John in quest of Salmo Salar.
I learned that if you owned property in New Brunswick
and occupied it for two weeks or more in a year,
you did not need to have a guide to fish for Salmon.
Otherwise, a guide was required for every three
fishermen who shore fished and a guide in each boat
or canoe. Of course, this was a "make work" law to
employ local inhabitants, who for the most part,
were more than willing to drink your beer and
smoke your cigarettes and were anything but a
guide in the true sense of the word."

"After a few trips of paying a guide, two friends
and I pooled our resources and built a small camp
on the banks of the St. John, just below the Pines
Pool at Bath, N.B. The big hydroelectric dam was
being built at Beechwood at the time and the Salmon
were slowed down in their migration up the river.
Consequently, we had excellent fishing in the pools
a couple miles downriver from the dam. During the
sixties another large hydroelectric dam was
constructed several miles downriver from Woodstock
and the Salmon went into a steady decline for a
number of years."

"The fishing was truly great and at that time it
was legal to sell Salmon. The daily limit was six
fish and I managed to hit that high on two occasions.
My dad, however, outdid me one day when he took seven,
releasing one. With such a liberal daily limit, I
supplemented my income by selling whatever I couldn't
use. I took 90 Salmon one season from the St. John."

"As I think back over forty years to the day
when I took my first Atlantic Salmon, June 23,
1953. It was a ten pound hen taken on a number
eight Black Dose at the Stillwater Pool on the
Narraguagus River in Cherryfield, Maine. Another
fisherman had just stepped out of the spot after
having fished it for a few minutes and I stepped
right into his boot tracks on a sandbar, just a
few casts and the fish took. Renowned Cherryfield
resident Harry Smith, "king of the river" and a
legend in his own time, sat on the bank across
the river cheering me on. Needless to say, I was
one happy fisherman. Or as they say nowadays,
'fisherperson.' Anyway, that fish was to launch
me into what has become a lifelong obsession. I
have fished several of Maine's Salmon Rivers
including the Machias, Columbia, Dennys and
Penobscot. I never was able to connect on the
Dennys, however. In Canada I have fished the
South West Mirimachi, St. John, Renous, Moise,
Matane, Restigouche, Upsalquitch and the Matapedia
Rivers. My favorite has been and still is, the
Matapedia in Southern Quebec."

Trapping and Hunting

Being the outdoorsman that Phil was, he did a
fair amount of trapping and hunting both as a
boy and through later years. His trapping
consisted mainly of Muskrats, Mink and Beaver.
He started his trapping when he got out of the
Navy after WWII. As the extra Salmon were a
supplement to his income, so were the trapped
animals.

His Deer hunting began at the age of 12 when he
was big enough to carry a rifle. He never became
obsessed with Deer hunting but managed to take
15 Deer over a period of about 25 years.

Health

Phil, like many of us as we age, has had more
than his share of health problems. I mention it
here because I think there is a message to the
rest of us. Without going into too much detail,
Phil says, "...As to the specifics of my health
if you've got a half hour I'll tell ya...It all
started with the discovery of an aortal abdominal
aneurysm. That was corrected with surgery on the
15th of Dec. '94. In Jan.'95 they found a cancer
in my esophagus which was promptly removed. (Cancer
and esophagus). As a result of the cancer surgery
an infection settled in my 5th cervical disc.
Surgery followed and the disc removed and replaced
with a bone chip off my right hip.

The following month, March, a blocked bowel saw the
need for my gut to be opened again from wish bone
to pubic bone (3rd time). A month later adhesions
followed and the fourth surgery in four months slowed
me down a bit...Since then I've had surgery twice for
kidney stones and am under medication for pancreatitis
along with 11 other meds for high blood pressure,
dumping syndrome (no esophagus) hand tremors.. Other
than that, I'm in pretty good health.

Trouble is I look healthy as a horse according to
my R.N. wife, who incidentally, is at the very least,
responsible for my still being on the up side of the
grass...I smoked for 58 years before finally seeing
the light and quitting about 5 years ago. It was
however a bit too late to stave off the terrible
shortness of breath I suffer with, can't do a
damned thing physical and it really ticks me off
to be so damned helpless where I was so active
all my life. The hell of growing old and having
been stupid in youth!...Saw my kidney specialist
today and asked him point blank his opinion of how
long before I have to go on dialysis. His reply,
probably between 3 and 5 years. That sounded like
good news to me; if I'm lucky I'll drown before
then when some big salmon pulls me into a deep pool
on the Bonaventure River! So there, you have my
medical history since 1994."

Flies & Fly Tying

"I met Herbie Welch once when I was a kid and bought
one of his Black Ghost streamers, which foolishly,
I fished with and finally lost on the bottom to
some damned log. Can't remember for certain what
I paid for the fly but it was exorbitant compared
with the then current fly prices. Think it was like
75 cents when most other flies were going for less
than half that...The only other time I saw Welch was
when I watched him fish, (beautiful caster) and lose
a big (4-5 lb) brook trout at Bemis, which is at the
upper end of Mooselookmeguntic Lake up in the famous
Rangeley region...

I never had the pleasure of meeting Carrie Stevens but she
was in her hey day when I was just getting started in
fly tying in the late 30's and early 40's and we both
bought our materials from George Fletcher. George
started his fly tying material business from his home
in Kingfield, Maine. He later moved it to the town of
Rangeley. It was known as Fletcher's Fly Shop. Although
Stevens' winter residence was in Anson, Maine some 15
miles from my present home I never really knew of her
till many years later when I worked with Joe Bates on
his book Salmon Fly Tying and Fishing. And
that in itself is another story...I've tied a lot of her
patterns during the intervening years and of course her
famous Grey Ghost remains as one of the best streamers
for trout and landlocked salmon."

Phil was not an innovator of new fly patterns save one,
the Silver Down East (shown below). "On one of my
Salmon fishing excursions in Down East Maine, I
saw a chap named Henry Dowling take a nice fish at the dam at
Whitneyville on the Machias River. Taking the
opportunity to talk with him later, he showed
me the fly that took that fish. Simplicity
personified and, with no name. Just some Red
Squirrel tail hair for a wing with a gray body,
that's all! Later on, after I had moved to
Aroostook County, I came up with a pattern based
on Henry's creation. I dressed the fly with an oval
silver tag, Golden Pheasant crest tail, black Ostrich
herl butt and, flat silver tinsel body ribbed with
oval silver. The wing was of reddish Fitch tail with
an orange hackle tied collar style pulled back and,
black head.

I used the fly extensively on the St. John and,
took a lot of fish with it. I named it the Silver
Down East. I subsequently did a variation with a
gray floss body ribbed with fine silver oval tinsel
and called it the Down East Special. In retrospect,
I suppose I should have called them Dowling Specials
1 and 2. Years later, after I had returned to
Farmington, Colonel Joe Bates, called me to inquire
if I was interested in tying some flies for him that
would be featured in a forthcoming book he was working
on. The book was Atlantic Salmon Flies and
Fishing.

The Colonel came to my home and over a period of
three days, I tied some 36 different Salmon flies
with the promise that there would be a full page
of color photos of some of the flies featured in
his book. After the book was published, he sent me
an autographed copy of the limited edition. Included
was a bill for $13.00! There were photos of just
five of my flies in the book but, it did get me
some business. But, the Colonel had 31 of my ties
that went into his personal fly book. What really
galled me about the whole affair was the fact that
he gave credit for the Silver Down East Special to
some Tyer on the Mirimachi. I inquired about it
later and the Colonel's reply to me was, "As Mae
West said, 'I'm not here to argue'".

"Over the years I have tied nearly all varieties
of flies except salt water and bead heads, I HATE
'EM. Wouldn't tie them and certainly would not use
them. They've only become legal in this state over
the past few years. Prior to that time it was
illegal to affix any weight to any fly. As far as
I'm concerned, in my somewhat biased opinion,
using them to fish with is akin to using a weighted
lure and spinning rod. We always were able to get
our lines down even back well before the advent
of sinking lines. Our lines were silk and if not
dressed to float they'd sink like a rock....As to
fishing with any celebrities...can't think of any
off hand except Joe Bates and he was ticked off
because I caught fish and he didn't. His wife was
a lovely person and can't understand how she put
up with such an egotistical individual. He was a
good writer and researcher, I'll give him that
but like a lot of people of his ilk, and he was
somewhat of a freeloader too...."

"I prefer, and fish with double hooks for Salmon.
I' m convinced they hold better and certainly ride
better in the water. The fellow that used to guide
for me was a single hook advocate. But my ratio of
hooked and lost fish was way less than his.
Actually, I've lost damned few salmon on double
hooks..."

"Silver bodied streamers need ribbing (3 twist,
oval or similar)...Feather wing streamers should
go on 8x (or longer) hooks, hairwing (bucktails)
on 6x. And streamers to me don't include hairwing
flies. They were referred to as bucktails in my
day..."

Jobs and Hobbies

"I had a varied and colorful work history having
conquered many fields of endeavor to move on to
one more challenging. I've been a salesman of one
sort or another for many years having sold lots
of things from professional photographer to
automobiles and vacuum cleaners, trading stamps,
potato handling equipment, malt beverages (beer),
police officer, professional hunting and fishing
guide, assistant manager of a sporting goods store,
professional waterfowl carver and fly tyer.

My goal as a professional carver was to win a ribbon at the
world's championship, professional category in Ocean
City, Maryland. I did so in 1990 with a full sized
common loon. I even did short stint of laying hardwood
flooring which was the toughest job I ever had, really
tough on the back. I have maintained my interest in
hunting, fishing and trapping down thru the years."

"I taught classes in fly tying locally for about 20
years and have taught close to 100 people over the
years. For what it's worth, I wrote an outdoor
column for the Maine Sportsman for a number
of years. The Sportsman is a monthly publication
relating to all outdoor activities here in Maine. Most
specifically hunting & fishing. It has columnists
from every section of the state. I covered the
Franklin County section which included the
famous Rangeley Lakes area.

I also taught a class in rod making having
done so myself since the components became available
in the glass rod era." After Phil moved back to
Farmington in '69, he found that there was great
interest in learning to tie flies. "So, not being
one to let an opportunity pass by, I started teaching
classes in fly tying...Along with teaching fly tying,
I soon found out there were many people who wanted to
learn how to fly fish. So, I again took the lead and
started what I believe was the first fly fishing school
in Maine. I operated the school out of Quimby Pond Camps
on Quimby Pond in the famous Rangeley region. Nothing
but brook trout inhabits the waters. I judged the fly
tying contest held for several years at the annual
Maine Sportsman's Show in the state capitol of Augusta.
I retired from all work later in 1990 and I now wear a
t-shirt that says; "I'm retired but I work part time as
a pain in the ass." I love it!...

I still maintain my Registered Maine Master Guide's
license which I have held since I got out of the Navy
in 1946 and am still tying commercially. Tied 228 dozen
(2736 flies) last winter. This Winter (2003) I have
an order to tie over 3600 flies!"

Some Closing Thoughts

During the relatively short time I have known Phil,
I have come to know him as a unique individual who
throughout life, did the things he loved yet kept
his feet well grounded. His various careers and
hobbies have vast proportions compared to most of
us. Yet, as varied as his life was, his passion for
the outdoors and fishing links us all in some way.

Phil has touched many throughout his life and he
will be one who leaves the world just a little
better than he found it.

Here are a few of Phil's flies with recipes, also
check the list of links to Phil's flies elsewhere
in this series.